60% of UK Couples May Pick Lab-Grown Diamond for Engagement Ring
Lab-grown diamond acceptance is increasing rapidly across The United Kingdom. During last week’s conference call dedicated to Pandora's financial reports, CEO Alexander Lacik admitted that he was satisfied with the Brilliance jewelry sales results. While the items of the lab-created diamond line accounted for 2% of the Pandora sales in the U.K. in the third quarter, the analysts connected this to the low volume of finished pieces available for the test launch. The demand of the public is definitely there, as Lacik confirmed that the company would be moving forward with the Brilliance brand introduction across the globe next year.
This was not the single piece of last week’s news displaying the increasing interest of the British consumers in lab-grown gems. The brand new survey conducted by a big London based retailer has revealed remarkable results. According to the published report, around 60% of men having the limited budget would choose a larger man-made diamond with a higher quality over a smaller mined gem for their engagement ring. 30% of men would also propose with a lab-grown diamond to bring down the overall cost of an engagement.
50% of women who participated in the same study also admitted that they would feel happier receiving the ring with a larger lab-created diamond rather than with a smaller mined one. According to the executives of the survey, men in The U.K. spend an average of £3,000 (around $4,050) on the engagement ring. Lab-grown diamonds allow for a 1.50 carat center stone instead of a diamond weighing less than 1 carat for that budget. The survey results also showed that the white round brilliant lab-grown diamonds in the 1.5 to 2 carat weight category are the most favourable purchase. Over half of all the participants would pick such a diamond for their engagement ring.
Man-made diamonds have been getting more and more trendy in The US for the past few years, with over half of American retailers selling them now. At the same time European jewelers were a lot more cautious towards the lab-grown gems. However, with Pandora’s Brilliance launch, increased numbers of promotional campaigns and growing public awareness, The Great Britain has done a lot of catching up since the beginning of 2021, which is reflected in the results of the survey.
LaBrilliante fully supports the U.K. retailers who start offering pieces with lab-created gems. Our company has been successfully working with many British jewelers since last year and we’re looking forward to welcoming new partners and seeing lab-grown diamonds getting completely accepted as the alternative to the mined diamonds by retailers and consumers in other parts of the world.
